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Saudi Arabia V. Nelson It Essay

In other words, the Court looked at why Nelson was suing Saudi Arabia, and determined whether those claims were based on Saudi Arabia's actions as a sovereign nation or on its actions as a business. Sovereign immunity should continue, even if it results in the occasional unjust activity. To subject foreign governments to liability for their actions as governments would be allowing other countries to dictate the internal policies of foreign countries. In this instance, the conditions of Nelson's confinement sound absolutely horrific. Moreover, it seems clear that Nelson would not have been arrested had he not been performing his job-related activities and reporting safety violations that existed in the hospital. The Saudi Arabian government, undoubtedly, if United States laws applied, committed a number of torts and crimes in confining Nelson. However, Nelson was not in the United...

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U.S. law did not apply to his scenario. Nelson could have just as easily been arrested for allowing a woman to drive a car, which is a crime in Saudi Arabia, and sued because that would be wrongful imprisonment in the United States. The United States does not have the right to determine the laws in Saudi Arabia. Likewise, the United States enjoys its activities as a sovereign as well. Allowing other governments to rule on the validity of a government's activities threatens the independence of different nations. In this scenario it seems pretty clear that Nelson's claim was based upon wrongful imprisonment, which speaks to the penal portion of the government's behavior. It would be grossly overreaching to suggest that a country's criminal justice system can be the commercial activity that triggers an exception under FISA.
However, there are certainly times that sovereign

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